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. 2017 Dec 20;39(3):426–438. doi: 10.1177/0271678X17746174

Figure 4.

Figure 4.

Substrain and sex differences in circle of Willis anatomy. (a) Examples of posterior communicating artery (PcomA) scoring. Arrows indicate PcomA. Vascular caliber was graded from 0 to 3, and communication was subsequently rated as poor (grade 0 or 1) or robust (grade 2 or 3) as described in the text. These examples were perfused with blue silicone. (b) Sex and substrain differences in the distribution of PcomA scores. Results did not differ between NJ and NCrl, or between J and JEiJ, so results are pooled to simplify presentation. The right PComA was comparably developed in males of all substrains. Female NJ/NCrl and J/JEiJ mice exhibited PcomA scores comparable to males of the same substrains, whereas all female ByJ had robust communication. Left PcomA scores showed the same pattern of strain variation as the right with the striking exception of ByJ males, in which the left PcomA exhibited the consistent patency seen bilaterally in ByJ females. Numbers of NJ, NCrl, J, JEiJ and ByJ mice were 9, 9, 12, 15 and 10 males, and 4, 8, 13, 9 and 14 females, respectively.